A Protector's Rage and Tears
by you know not
Summary: What if Leo had gone back home before Luna did in episode 77?


A/N: It's been a little more than a few years since I wrote a one-shot based off of this series, but this recently came to mind, and I just had this urge to start writing it. I usually go with the subs, but this felt like a better match with the dub characters' personalities.

Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't own the show, or else I would actually try to make real episodes of it myself.

Leo was sitting on the couch in the living room of the top floor of Tops with his arms crossed and crossed look on his face. He was told earlier at school by Ms. Bartlet that she needed to see him after school, only to find out from her questioning why he hadn't left for home yet that she didn't ask him to stay at all. He didn't know how, but he was sure that Lester guy was behind it. That feeling only became stronger when he was told by Patty and Bob that they saw Luna riding in a limousine with Lester in it. He would have called Sector Security about a kidnapping, but his friends said it was no such thing. Even if it was, his sister would have to be missing for a full twenty four hours before they could do anything.

Now Leo would have gone after them and rescued his younger sister of two minutes if she needed it, but the problem was that he had no idea where this Lester kid lived. It wasn't like every student in school knew where everyone in school lived, especially the home of a recent transfer student. That kind of thing was all anime nonsense that was used to speed things along. He would just be going all over the city looking for her with the very likely possibility of not finding her, and then they would both go missing. His only hope now was that she would be safe and get away from harm before twenty four hours had transpired.

"Why did you have to go and do something so stupid, Luna," he muttered before giving a bitter laugh. "And she calls me a dork."

The sound to the front door being open and closed were soon heard, followed by the sound of footsteps being made with Luna's greeting voice reaching throughout the room. She was still in her Duel Academy uniform, carrying not only her backpack, but some sort of skateboard as well. She carefully placed both items down on the floor, leaning them against a wall, all while having a carefree smile on her face. Seeing his sister so blissful like that...caused Leo's blood to boil!

'What's she so happy about?' he thought in annoyance as he watched her lips move, but not listening to what was coming out of them. 'Doesn't she understand what happened? How worried I was?'

He told her again and again that that Lester had bad news written all over him, and yet she still followed the pretty boy with an attitude to his home. That guy was after something, something of Luna's; Leo was sure of it. He thought that she would come here in a panic after she saw the truth, but she was still fawning over that jerk! Why does she have to have such a blind spot for good-looking jerks?

"Where were you?" he said with an undertone, causing the girl to pause.

"What do you mean?" said Luna with an eyebrow raised, staring at her brother in confusion. "I was at Lester's place."

"Why?" he gruffly said, making her flinch.

"Leo, what's-" her voice was filled with fear and concern before being interrupted.

"Answer the question!" he nearly growled as he tightened his fists that were resting on his knees.

"He invited me over. I didn't want to be rude," she said with a bit of hesitation, but then gained a glare on her face as she started to speak with more confidence. "Is there a problem with that?"

"He's a total stranger to us, Luna," Leo's right eye was beginning to twitch as he spoke each word. "Who knows what he could have done?"

"Lester's a nice guy, and you'd see that if you just give him a chance," she said with a hmph as she crossed her arms in annoyance.

"You're just saying that because you think he's suuuuper cuuute," he said while mocking the way she said the last two words to describe the transfer student to Yusei the other day.

"So what if I think he's cute!?" said Luna as she raised her voice a little, and leaned forward a bit with her arms on either side of herself. "That doesn't mean what I said isn't true."

"And it still doesn't change the fact that we don't even know him, yet you went with him to his place all by yourself," Leo was now gripping the edge of the couch while he spoke.

"We talked with other people we didn't know at their place before," she said, giving a stern look. "Remember Sayer? How is this any different other than the fact that nothing bad happened this time?"

Okay, that reminder stung a little, and was causing the male twin to close his eyes for a moment as he clicked his tongue against his teeth. "What happened with Sayer was my fault. And I can't apologize enough for putting us in that situation in the first place," he said, his body showing signs of relaxing as he stared down at the floor in remorse.

"Leo...I-" she began to say as she reached a hand out to him in an attempt to console him.

"But there's a huge different between that and this" all traces of remorse were gone from his voice, and replaced with renewal conviction. The sudden rebound causing his sister to take a step back in shock. "Neither one of us went by ourselves when we went to see Sayer. We even had others there with us, so it's not like we weren't trying to be careful about it," he narrowed his eyes more while looking at her before slowly standing up, causing her to gasp a little at his expression. "You, on the other hand, got into some new kid's car. A new kid-who by the way-that we've only known about since yesterday, and not even a full twenty four hours because we've only seen him during class time. Despite all that, you still went with him to his home. ALL. BY. YOUR. SELF."

"It...I was...I mean..." Luna was beginning to stutter with her words as her body started to fidget.

"Do you have any idea how I felt when I had to hear from our friends that you were riding with Lester to his place?" said Leo, fists shaking as he bared his teeth. "Unable to call or follow to check up on you? Not knowing when you'll be back? Unable to do anything at all except wait? Do you know how I felt?"

"I'm sorry, Leo," she said, staring at the floor to the side of herself, while grabbing her left shoulder with her right hand. "But you weren't there. I couldn't just say no,"

"Yes, you could have," he nearly barked. "You could have said 'sorry, Lester, but I have to get home,' and went on your way. Heck, you knew where I was, so it's not like you couldn't have come and talked to me about it first."

"You would have just said I couldn't go anyways," she said in a desperate tone as she turned her head back to face him.

"And there we have it," said Leo, accusingly. "You didn't want me to know where you were going, so you kept quiet. So long as it's with some pretty boy, it's okay to do something so irresponsible. Is that right?"

"No!" she cried out. "That's not what I'm saying at all. Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Then what are you saying, sis?" he said, raising an eyebrow as he awaited an answer. "Because from what we've been talking about, there doesn't seem to be any other reason for why you would be so stupid."

"You of all people have no right to call me that!" she said, staring daggers into him. "You're at the bottom of our class in all subjects, and do stupid things that can put you in danger almost all the time!"

"Yes, that's true," he said as he began to take a few steps closer to her. "Because I'm you're big brother, and so I have to be the one to do dumb stuff, so that you won't think about doing them yourself when you see what the end results are," he was moving closer still. "And because I've done stupid and irresponsible things, I know exactly what I'm talking about," he stopped when he was within arm-length of her. "So you see, sis, I have every right to call you that and more for what you've done."

Luna's legs were shaking, and coming close to wobbling as she tried to meet her sibling's stern-look with her own. She's never seen him act like this before. He would always back down whenever she talked sternly to him before, no matter what. Now though, it was like their roles were reversed. She could feel herself crumbling under his gaze, and it wouldn't be long for him to see it.

"I'm going to our room," said Luna, abruptly as she made to turn and walk off, only for her brother to grab one of her wrists and pull her back. "Hey!"

"You're not going anywhere until I say so," he said, wrapping his free hand around her waist as he brought her closer to himself. It was moments like this where she tried to push him away with her free hand that reminded the two that he was the physically stronger one. "Now stop being so difficult."

She didn't stop. She just tried harder, despite the futility of it all. She would yell at him, pound his chest, and even stomp on his feet in her attempts to get him to loosen his grip on her. All forms of struggling did very little-if anything-to him, and just convinced him to tighten his hold on her even more. Though he was starting to get tired of her behavior, and nearly rolled his eyes.

"LUNA!" the sound of his voice echoed throughout the room, ceasing all other activities. Luna froze in place, a gasp barely passing her lips. He quickly pulled her closer until he was holding her against himself. Their eyes locked onto each others. "Please...I just want you to be okay."

Any shock or fear she had because of her brother's outburst, disappeared the instance she saw the tears built up in the corner of his eyes. "Leo..." she gently said, reaching out with her free hand to rest against his cheek. The tears soon fell when she made contact. "I'm okay. See? You don't need to be worried about me so much all the time."

"That's just it, Luna," he began to sob a little as he closed his eyes. "I do, I do have to worry about you all the time. And not just because you're a Signer that a bunch of bad people want to hurt," he reopened his eyes, and she felt speechless when his eyes were back upon her. "For eight years you've been so sick and couldn't leave our home. You've only recently gotten well enough to go out more, and I worry about you overdoing it sometimes. Above either of those things: I'm you're brother! With all that, how can you say I don't need to worry about you?!"

"Leo," she barely more than whispered before moving the hand on his cheek to behind his neck, and pulled him into a hug. He released his grip on her other wrist, and she wrapped that around his neck as well. She could feel his hands resting on her back, holding her close as he sobbed a few apologies. "It's okay. I never meant to worry you so much. You've done so much for me, and yet I'm still burdening you, aren't I?"

"N-no," Leo let out a few sniffs, finally having calmed down a little. He pulled away from his twin until they were about within arms distance once again, and saw that she was on the verge of tears herself. "You're not a burden. Maybe I felt a little like that before, but that's back when I was young and stupid."

"You're still pretty young and stupid from what I can tell," said Luna, giving a big smile with a quick and forced laugh.

"H-hey! I'm trying to be serious here!" said Leo before giving a smile of his own, which was soon followed by the two laughing a bit together. "I, I really don't want you to do something like that again."

"I understand," she said with a nod, while rubbing her eyes for a moment. "I guess I was being irresponsible back there. I'm sorry. I promise I won't do something like that again. And I promise to be more considerate towards your feelings."

The two embraced once again. "Thanks, Luna," he said before they pulled away once more, big smiles on their faces as they did so. Leo then rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. "Soooo, what's with the skateboard anyways?"


End file.
